Ken and I leave tomorrow for Oshkosh, WI and the EAA AirVenture, the Woodstock /
Frankfurt Book Fair / Boy Scout Jamboree of American aviation. It's
enormous, some 300,000 people come every year. The true experience is to
fly in to the
crazy
busy airport and camp on the field in a tent under your wings. Ken
and I have opted for flying in to a nearby airport and staying in a
hotel, more our speed.

This trip will be my first time planning a multiday plane trip. It's
complicated finding a route that is safe, efficient, and interesting.
The hard part is finding airports where once you land you'll find
something to do and a way to get to a decent hotel and dinner.

We're planning on three days, stopping tomorrow in Casper WY and the
day after in Fargo ND. Also lunch stops in Wendover UT and
Spearfish SD. All places I'd never imagined myself going! You can see
our full route: 1667nm, or about 15 hours of flying. Weather permitting.

The best times in my life have been car road trips where I wasn't quite
sure where I'd end up any given day. Flying in your own plane is pretty
flexible, but the logistics of finding ground transportation feel a bit
confining. Then again for once Ken is the relaxed one about travel
plans, he's happy to take what comes to us. Should be fun!

I've finally started training on my real flying goal, Ken's 1978 Cardinal RG.
Ken's had this plane almost 20 years, I'm lucky to be able to fly it.
Ken gave me a key last week! Turns out it's a pretty challenging step up
for a new pilot.

The Cardinal is the Cessna 177; not that different a model from the 172s
I learned in. But 172s are designed as trainers, easy to land. The 177
is a travel plane. Every aspect of the design is more aerodynamic, from
a cantilevered wing without a strut dragging in the air to the fuel tank
vents hidden in the wings, not sticking out in the breeze. It makes for
a faster plane (146kts vs. 122kts), but it also handles totally
differently.

The other change in the Cardinal RG is the RG; retractable gear. I have
to remember to put the wheels down every single time I land. I
won't die if I forget, but landing gear up makes a hell of a mess and
causes the prop to hit the ground, requiring an expensive engine
rebuild. I'm doing fine with not forgetting so far, I'm hyper-aware in
the new plane.

The hard part is the plane flies differently with the wheels hanging
out. It adds major drag, like flaps, but without any lift to compensate.
If I want to stay level at the same speed I need to add about 15% power.
The drag comes in handy, it makes it easier to slow the plane down for
landing. And with gear down and full flaps the plane descends quite
quickly, helpful if you're too high. On my first simulated engine-out
landing my instructor sat quietly while I tried to figure out what to
do. I put the gear down first thing, so I wouldn't forget later. Big
mistake: the plane dropped so fast I would have landed about 500' short
if my engine were really dead. Lesson learned, now I respect the drag
from the gear.

Ken and I are headed to Oshkosh for
the big annual pilot's jamboree. I was hoping to be fully trained in the
Cardinal by now so we could share the flying, but maintenance delays and
insurance requirements mean I'm going to be a passenger on this trip.
I've got a lot I can learn in the right seat, particularly all the fancy
avionics Ken has: GNS 430W GPS, MX20 display, STEC 55x autopilot,
EDM 730 engine
monitor, even the clock is
complex. Nice to learn all the systems without the distraction of flying
the plane.

A couple of weeks ago I went on an absolutely fantastic flying trip, a 5
day journey to the Colorado Rockies with the Flyout Group. Normally in little planes
you avoid mountains, cross high and quick for safety. For this trip we
sought the mountains out to enjoy the challenge of flying down in them.

The map above (KML)
is from our most mountainous flying, a full day of playing around in the
valleys and mountain passes of the Rockies. Some of the highlights
include flying through Independence
Pass (12,095') and landing at the highest airport in
the US (9927'). The 182 we were flying isn't very happy flying over
12,000' and we were breathing supplemental oxygen, but that just made it
all the more fun.

The main purpose of the trip was instructional: Ken and I had an
instructor with us. We got a lot of practical experience with density altitude and
performance, learning just what it really feels like taking off at
9000' on a 90° day. We got lucky with calm winds, only 10-15kts at
the ridgetops, so we never had to deal with any significant turbulence
or downdrafts. That let us fly safely down in the valleys but I'm a
little sorry I didn't get more experience with more challenging
conditions. Then again we got some very exciting flying with beautiful
sights.

It's startling to look under your left wing and see mountains above you!
But at a safe distance with good weather, it's fun. See my photo
set for more pictures; on the fourth day we flew over Utah along the
Colorado River and I got a lot of great overhead
shots of Glen Canyon. I also landed and took off at Las Vegas
International (very busy), landed in Death
Valley (-210'), and took my first flight over the Sierras. A great
week of flying, I'm ready for more!